NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Contrary to earlier findings,
there is no apparent link between migraine and left-handedness,
German researchers have shown.

Some 26 years ago, a group of investigators reported
finding more left-handers among migraine patients than other
people. Now, Dr. Katrin Biehl and colleagues, at the University
of Munster, report in the medical journal Cephalalgia that they
found no significant difference in the frequency or grade of
left-handedness between people who have migraine and those who
do not.

The researchers assessed handedness -- whether one favors
the left- or right-hand -- in 100 migraine patients and another
100 people without migraine who were of similar age and gender.

The migraine group and the control group both consisted of
87 female and 13 male participants. Overall, study participants
were about 40 years old.

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The researchers identified 4 subjects in the migraine group
and 8 in the control group who were left-handed.

Biehl and colleagues further investigated any association
between migraine and left-handedness by pooling the data from
their study with those from five similarly designed studies.

The combined analysis included a total of 980 migraine
patients and 1738 control subjects. Overall, 7.3 percent of the
migraine group and 6.8 percent of the control subjects were
left-handed.

The investigators conclude there is not a significant
association between migraine and being left-handed.